Amazon is the top destination for buying beauty

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Seventy-one percent of 2,500 consumers in a new survey said Amazon is their top online destination for buying beauty products, according to the results outlined in the Stella Rising Glimmer Report - Searching for Beauty.

Ulta.com and Sephora.com tied for second place at 54%, Walmart.com registered 47%, and Target.com came in at 36%. Amazon's search capability was key to its top ranking, as 65% said they used Amazon to search for specific brands of products, and 63% said they used it to search categories of beauty products, according to the report.

Additionally, 61% of those surveyed like to purchase beauty products online because they can shop at any hour, while 50% said they shopped online for the likelihood that they would find better prices than in physical stores.

Even as Amazon is pulling ahead as a beauty destination, the news is still good for the rest of that retail segment. The survey found that 41% of respondents are looking to spend more on beauty products this year than they did last year, and another 50% are aiming to spend roughly the same amount. Seventy-two percent of respondents also said they are trying to use a wider variety of products, and 60% said they are using beauty products more often. These indicators suggest good times ahead for beauty retailers that are able to maintain broad and deep inventories, whether in-store, online or both.

Meanwhile, 67% of those surveyed said social media is their top source for learning about new beauty, and 84% said mobile devices were their preferred tools for online searches, both of which will be good news for a brand like L'Oreal, which recently has been investing in new capabilities like AI-based skin diagnostics.